Pinellas home prices soared 13 percent in October as bay area market continued to favor sellers

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Sorry, homebuyers, Tampa Bay’s real estate market still looks strong for sellers. For the second consecutive month, sales and prices showed healthy year-over-year gains in October, with Pinellas County recording its biggest price jump — 13.3 percent — since January. The October figures, released today by Florida Realtors, indicate that September’s good showing wasn’t a one-time fluke. A big jump…

Is Tampa Bay finally seeing signs of a buyer’s market? Soaring September sales hint at it

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Bucking a national trend, sales of single-family homes soared by double digits in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Hernando counties in September. That dramatic increase, coupled with minor price increases, suggests that a real estate market that has favored sellers for several years is finally starting to swing a bit in favor of buyers. Another positive sign for those looking to purchase:…

St. Petersburg’s Fusion 1560 sells for $81.1 million in mega apartment deal

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Fusion 1560, a 325-unit complex that was in the vanguard of St. Petersburg’s apartment boom, has sold for $81.1 million to a giant Chicago firm that manages Tampa’s International Plaza. The price is nearly $25 million more than Fusion sold for three years ago, a sign of the rebirth of the city’s once seedy Edge District. And at nearly $250,000…

St. Petersburg panel approves tiny-house community

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Tampa Bay’s first tiny-house community won unanimous approval Wednesday from St. Petersburg’s Development Review Commission. Pedro Medina, manager of the project, said he hopes to start construction this fall on six houses in the city’s Midtown area. Initially, they wouldn’t be for sale but instead would be rentals, possibly through Airbnb. “This tiny-house movement has been very popular,’’ Medina told…

Pasco sellers are the big winners in April as Tampa Bay home prices keep rising

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Sales down; prices up. That in a nutshell described the real estate market in Tampa Bay and a few other parts of Florida in April as once again there were too many buyers and too few available homes. “Pent-up demand continues to put upward pressure on prices,’’ said Christine Hansen, president of Florida Realtors. “In April, sellers continued to get…

Florida leads other hurricane-prone states in quality of its building codes

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Florida has the strongest residential building codes among 18 coastal states, according to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. Florida’s rating is 95, almost three times higher than lowest-ranked Texas. Other states with high scores are Virginia (94), South Carolina (92) and New Jersey (90). Noting that 25 million people in the United States…

Another surge in Tampa Bay home prices as sales volume sags

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Tampa Bay home sales tumbled in March, once again pushing up prices. Hillsborough County saw the biggest decline in single-family sales, which plunged nearly 9 percent. Hernando had the biggest gain in prices, up more than 17 percent. The Tampa Bay results parallel those statewide as a shortage of homes for sale is creating a “cycle of frustration” for buyers,…

Tampa Bay homes prices soar by double-digits in January

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Home prices soared in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in January, the highest gains in several months. Prices for single family homes also rose in Hernando and Pasco as the shortage of available homes showed no immediate sign of easing. The bay area market reflected a broader trend of rising prices and sluggish sales. “The utter lack of sufficient housing supply…